Human skin can feel a wide variety of sensations, such as a gentle squeeze, quick taps, or the thud-thud of a heartbeat. In contrast, phones, game controllers, and watches often rely solely on vibrations to get the user's attention. Unfortunately, this sudden fast shaking feels different from most everyday touch interactions and can quickly become annoying.

This project proposes cutaneous electrohydraulic (CUTE) wearable devices [] that can richly communicate with the user's sense of touch, providing expressive and pleasant tactile sensations []. These devices are electrically driven and can produce a remarkable range of tactile sensations, including pressure, slow and calming touch, and vibrations at a wide variety of frequencies, from low to high []. This new approach to wearable haptic feedback offers unprecedented control over the tactile sensations that can be presented to users.

By combining high-performance actuation with a compact form factor, CUTE devices provide an elegant solution for delivering nuanced and engaging haptic feedback to the skin. A perceptual study confirms that users can identify diverse cutaneous signals with near-perfect accuracy and that almost all tactile cues are perceived as pleasant: except for a continuous high-frequency vibration, like those produced by many of today's consumer devices []. We are investigating the use of these rich tactile sensations to create more engaging interactions in virtual reality applications [].